A MonsterQuest Look at "Birdzilla"

During the 1970s, numerous residents of central Illinois reported seeing giant black birds with wingspans of up to 25 feet. The roots of these sightings can be traced back to Native American stories of the Thunderbird. In the MonsterQuest episode entitled “Birdzilla” , the team takes a look at the possible existence of the huge birds in North America.

The History

The story of the Thunderbird goes way back in Native American folklore. According to Duke Addicks a storyteller from the Mdewakanton Indian community, the two types of Thunderbirds found in legend were either helpful or dangerous. When European explores came to America, they soon learned of the Thunderbirds.

In 1673, when explorers came to the area near the Illinois River, they found 40 to 50 foot petroglyphs of monstrous birds. According to the explorers, the natives of the area would not gaze upon these rock engravings. In 1836, Illinois writer John Russel published the story of flesh eating winged creatures that terrified the native Illini population. These creatures, called the Piasa, reportedly lived in caves along the Illinois River that were littered with human bones.

In the 1970s, a new wave of these Thunderbird stories began to show up in the United States. According to cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard, he has collected over a hundred stories from areas such as Illinois, Texas and Alaska. Most eyewitnesses describe a large dark bird with a hooked beak and a wingspan of 15 to 25 feet.

Scientist say that a creature like the one described by the eyewitnesses once existed. Paleontologist Dr. Kenneth Campbell of the Natural History Museum LA tells how in 1980 a partial skeleton of a large bird known as a teratorn was found near La Pampa, Argentina. This species that was called Argentavis Magnificens and it existed 6 to 8 million years ago. It was the largest flying bird ever found with a wingspan of 20 to 26 feet in length. This bird could weigh up to 165 pounds and would have feathers of up to 5 feet in length.

Another giant flying creature can be found even further back in history. The group of flying reptiles knows as pterosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago. In 1972, the bones of a pterosaur was found in Texas. This species now called Quetzalcoatlus was the largest flying reptile ever found with a wingspan of up to 40 feet.

The MonsterQuest team takes an in depth look at three modern sighting of Thunderbirds. They will use numerous experts to then try to determine the facts behind the case.

The Chief AJ Hunter Film

In 1977, Chief AJ Hunter was working for the local CBS affiliate in Lake Shelbyville, Illinois. He was following up on local reports of giant birds when he spotted two of these birds. He recorded film of the two birds when they took flight. Local TV stations carried the footage and the Department of Conservation claimed that the birds in the film were turkey vultures. The turkey vulture or buzzard is a common scavenger bird in North America with a dark plumage and a wingspan of up to 6 feet. According to Hunter, he was familiar with turkey vultures and he is certain that this bird was much larger than a turkey vulture.

MonsterQuest contacts and interviews three experts to get their impression of the film. Mike Wallace of the Zoological Society of San Diego and eagle biologist David Hancock both examine the film and both state that the bird in question is a turkey vulture. Dr. Patrick Redig from the University of Minnesota Raptor Center also examines the film and has a different conclusion. He states that the bird in the film appears to be larger than a turkey vulture and more in line with a condor. Redig is however very skeptical of the existence of any previously unknown giant bird species in North America. Redig states that the only way to make him believe would be the existence of a live specimen or a carcass that could be examined.

The California condor is an endangered species of bird found in the western United States. They are relatives of the turkey vulture and can have a wingspan of up to nine feet. The largest known flying bird in existence today is the Andean condor which is found in the Andes mountain region of South America. These creatures can have wingspans of up to 10 feet.

According to Wallace, the birds in question could not be condors as the terrain of Illinois would not be good for condors. Condors need mountains or steep canyons in their habitat. In these areas they are able to ride the thermals to aid in flight.

The John Bouker Sighting

On 16 October, 2002, commercial pilot John Bouker was flying over Manakotouk, Alaska. While flying at 600 feet, he spots a very large bronze colored bird with a hooked beak flying near his plane. Bouker estimates that the bird had a wingspan of at least 14 feet. Some experts have said that the bird in question could have been a steller eagle which though native to Russia are sometimes seen in Alaska. Bouker said that he was familiar with steller eagles which can have wingspans of up to eight feet, but the creature he saw was much larger than a steller eagle.

According to Huseyin Boyaci of the University of Minnesota Center for Cognitive studies, size estimates by eyewitnesses such as John Bouker are often very unreliable. Perceived size can vary greatly with the distance of the object and points of reference for the object. To prove this, Boyaci enlists the aid of expert kite make Clifford Quin. Quin designs a flexible frame bird shaped kite with a wing span of 24 feet. They fly the kite at 300 feet and ask people passing by to estimate the size of the kite. Guesses vary from “about the size of an eagle” to 100 feet.

The Marlon Lowe Case

One famous case occurred in Illinois on 25 July, 1977. Marlon Lowe was a ten year old boy that weighed approximately 60 pounds. While playing with friends in his backyard, Lowe states that he was attacked by a giant bird. According to Lowe, the bird grabbed his shirt with its talons and picked him at least a foot of the ground. The bird flies several feet with Lowe and then drops him. Four other witnesses see the bird as it flies off including his mother Ruth Lowe. According to the witnesses, the bird had a wingspan of around 15 feet and looked similar to a condor.

According to Dr. Patrick Redig, condors do not grasp and lift prey. This type of behavior is present only in raptors like eagles. Redig states that a bird usually has to outweigh its prey by a ratio of two to one in order to lift it from the ground. As an example he says that it would take a 16 pound eagle to carry away an eight pound cat. So in order for this bird to lift Lowe, it would have to be around a 100 pound bird.

The next question that MonsterQuest looks at is the likelihood of a bird attacking a human. According to Mike Wallace, a bird would only attack a human if it had been raised in captivity and was comfortable around humans. Anthropologist Scott McGraw has a very different feeling about attacks on humans.

Scott McGraw of Ohio State University spent a year studying primates carcasses that were killed by crowned eagles in 1998. He spent this time in the African Tai Forrest that is located in the Ivory Coast. In this time, McGraw collected over 600 primate bones and skulls from under the nests of crowned eagles. Primates appear to be the prime food source of these raptors which can have wingspans up to 7 feet. His studies showed that the crowned eagles were eating primates as large as 20 pounds. McGraw feels that these eagles are fully capable of attacking and killing small humans. Locals in his research area had several tales of small children being attacked by crowned eagles.

Further evidence of these attacks was found in Taung, South Africa in 1924. The skull of a pre-human known as Australopithecus child was found in a quarry. Originally, scientists believed that this 3 to 4 year old was killed by a leopard but further research showed that it was a bird of prey that killed the child. Unique marking on the skull have led paleontologists to believe that the child was killed with a single blow by a bird with a 14 cm long talon that pierced the brain. Markings on the skull were made by the beak of the bird when the eyes and brain were eaten. This damage is very similar to the damage done to the skulls of modern day primates by the crowned eagle. This leads to the possibility of crowned eagles preying on modern day small children.

The MonsterQuest team next looks at the possibility that a crowned eagle could have made it to the United States. According to meteorologists Joe Soebel, birds are often able to travel great distances especially when the weather conditions are right. Many birds ride the rising currents that move ahead of thunderstorms which may have given rise to the Thunderbird legend. In the 1970s, there was a weather pattern known as El Nino that may have helped a bird make the passage from Africa to the United States but that this possibility is very unlikely. Even if one made it to the U.S. from Africa, this bird would not have been able to lift Marlon Lowe.

According to biologist David Hancock, the possibility of a previously unknown species in North America is extremely unlikely. Birds of prey need to travel over great distances in order to feed. They would need to be exposed to observation and would not be able to hide. Even a genetic mutation resulting in some form of gigantic mutation would be unlikely and difficult to hide.

While giant birds did exist at one time, MonsterQuest was unable to find any evidence of their existence today. Many people believe that they have seen these creatures but they may have been wrong in their perception of the events. While the crowned eagle in Africa may still prey on small children, it is unlikely that one of these creatures ever made it to North America.